A research performed by scientists from Ankara University has make clear the intricate relationship between dopamine ranges, stress and the mind’s notion of time. The analysis, which delved into the neurological mechanisms underlying time notion, revealed important findings that would revolutionize the understanding of psychological well being problems reminiscent of despair, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s illness.
According to the research, stress exerts a disruptive affect on the mind’s government management over time notion, resulting in a distortion in people’ notion of time. Conversely, people with elevated dopamine ranges exhibit a heightened accuracy in perceiving time intervals.
The implications of those findings prolong far past the realm of neuroscience, providing potential insights into the prognosis and therapy of circumstances characterised by disturbances in time notion.
Metehan Çiçek, a college member at Ankara University’s Faculty of Medicine Department of Physiology and head of the Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Joint Application and Research Center’s (NÖROM) Human Neuroimaging Laboratory, shared insights into the analysis performed beneath the TÜBİTAK-supported challenge titled “The Effect of Social Stress on Time Perception: Epigenetics and Brain Imaging Study.”
Çiçek, who brings over three many years of experience in neuroscience garnered from prestigious establishments within the United States, highlighted the utilization of superior mind imaging methods within the research. Explaining the motivation behind the analysis, Çiçek expressed curiosity concerning the subjective expertise of time throughout moments of stress or emotional depth, prompting a meticulous investigation into the neural mechanisms underlying such phenomena.
The research, performed with the approval of the ethics committee, concerned two experiments geared toward elucidating the affect of social stress on time notion. Utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) expertise, researchers uncovered 45 wholesome adults to stimuli inducing social stress, simulating emotions of failure.
The imaging outcomes revealed distinct alterations in time notion beneath circumstances of stress, with people exhibiting a bent to understand time as passing slower than it really does.
Çiçek emphasised that stress-induced disruptions in mind exercise throughout duties associated to time notion underscore the vital position of government management mechanisms in temporal processing. The findings recommend that in durations of stress, the mind inadvertently slows down the notion of time, probably influencing decision-making processes in vital conditions.
Çiçek acknowledged that within the second experiment of the identical research, they examined DNA methylation from the saliva samples of 44 wholesome people and stated: “As a result of this examination, it was shown that individuals with high dopamine levels in their brains perceive time more accurately. In other words, in cases of stress, dopamine levels increase and the brain perceives time more accurately.”
Pointing out that dopamine is definitely associated to reward, Çiçek stated: “For example, when we eat, or when our team wins a match, the dopamine system is activated. On the other hand, individuals with high brain dopamine levels are activated during the time perception task. It has been observed that brain activations have become more efficient. This finding may explain why we feel time passes more slowly under stress.”
Answering the query concerning the outcomes Çiçek stated: “If we combine them with our previous research results, the perception of time is impaired in depressed patients. In fact, depressed patients do not benefit from rewards, nothing makes them happy. In other words, there is a problem in the dopamine system.”
The outcomes of the research have been written as neuroscience doctoral theses by Güvem Gümüş Akay and Gözde Vatansever. Çiçek additionally added that their worldwide articles are within the preparation stage to be despatched to scientific journals.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
